“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
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Yahweh has had Just about Enough of Our Sinful Ways
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. He was a monk, a theologian, and a university professor. In the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, he was a nobody, but his bold action lit a fire in the church, gave birth to the Protestant Reformation, and changed the course of history.
Luther studied the Scriptures and realized that the Catholic Church was rotten to the core. Although many things about the church bothered him, the sale of indulgences to ignorant, poor people topped his list. Catholic leaders required hapless churchgoers to buy indulgences for forgiveness of their sins, and according to church doctrine, the Catholic Church was the only supplier. The church’s monopoly in indulgences made it filthy rich at the expense of dirt poor churchgoers.
Today’s “Christian evangelists” should be paying attention.
Other things bothered Luther, too. For example, he questioned the pope’s authority. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence who studies the Bible should be expected to see that Yahweh is our only Savior and Redeemer, and He is the only Person who can forgive sins. Based on those facts alone, it is fair to conclude that the Catholic Church was a criminal enterprise. What the Catholic Church was doing was analogous to the mafia selling protection to business owners.
It didn’t take a gifted intellect to see the truth. Thus, it is fair to conclude that many others saw what Luther saw, but for some reason, they didn’t want to challenge the church. Some of them were probably afraid that church leaders would have them killed if they questioned church doctrine. Church leaders in the 1500s had a propensity for that sort of thing. Others probably wanted to climb the ladder in the Catholic hierarchy and get rich and powerful in the process. Humans are prone to do that kind of thing.
Whatever their reasons were, Catholic leaders rejected the truth, and in so doing, they rejected Yahweh. He is not a respecter of persons. Position in a religious hierarchy means nothing to Him. Popes, bishops, and preachers are held to the same standards as everyone else. Church leaders were more guilty than churchgoers, because they are expected to know what’s right and what’s wrong. That said, ignorance is not an excuse. Churchgoers were guilty, too. They should have known better.
The Sabbath
The Protestant reformers didn’t protest enough. We see flagrant examples of that today, things that anyone with a modicum of intelligence should see. For example, Protestant churches still reject the 4th Commandment by substituting Sunday Sabbath for Saturday Sabbath. Some Protestant leaders today delude themselves into believing that it’s not a big deal, but it was a big deal to Yahweh. He included it in the Ten Commandments. I think that says it all.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your Elohim.” (Exodus 20: 8-10)
Christmas and Easter
Christmas and Easter are the 2 biggest days on the calendars of Protestant churches today. Both of them are deeply rooted in pagan practices and rituals, and they replace things that Yahweh requires: Sukkot and Passover.
Most churchgoers have never even heard about Sukkot, i.e., the Feast of Tabernacle or the Feast of Booths. That’s disgraceful.
Easter is a no-brainer. It carries the name of the fertility goddess Ishtar, because Easter is the correct pronunciation of Ishtar. Therefore, Easter violates the 1st and 2nd Commandments.
Christmas should be a no-brainer, too, but few churchgoers know enough about the Scriptures to understand that the Messiah wasn’t born at the winter solstice. Christmas originated as a celebration for the sun god, Sol Invictus. Preachers should know better, or more correctly, they should know better if they have a modicum of intelligence. They don’t have an excuse.
“I am Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other elohim before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20: 2-6)
The Name Yahweh
The Name Yahweh has been edited out of the Bibles that most people use. In its place, “the LORD”, “LORD of hosts”, “the LORD God”, and “the Lord GOD” have been substituted, and preachers don’t tell churchgoers the truth. Preachers must see it as just another “time-honored tradition”, but it is not. It’s another shameful disgrace.
Most churchgoers don’t know Yahweh’s Name. When they hear it, they think the person saying it must be a heretic or worse.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Ultimately, preachers are responsible for the problem, but as I said before, ignorance is not an excuse. Yahweh commanded us to declare His Name to the world. Any churchgoer with a modicum of intelligence should be drawn to that conclusion.
What about the title God?
Elohim is the correct title for Yahweh. God is the name of a pagan deity. Referring to Yahweh with the name of a pagan deity violates the 1st and 2nd Commandments, too, but preachers throw the title God around so casually that it must not matter to them. Well, it matters to Yahweh. Any preacher with a modicum of intelligence should know that. Using a time-honored cliché, this isn’t rocket science.
We Need Another Reformation
We need another reformation. We need to take Yahweh seriously and do what He commanded us to do. Preachers, seminary professors, and Christian publishing houses are at the root of these problems. If they refuse to address these issues, they should be replaced.
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah should have known better. They should have repented, but they didn’t. Eventually, Yahweh had enough of their sinful ways, and He dropped the hammer on them. He is the same Person now, and He has had just about enough of our sinful ways.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and in Your Name cast out demons, and in Your Name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7: 21-23)
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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
John 10: 14-18
